


The Divorce

by Fuquspace



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Angst and Humor, Backstory, Divorce, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Humor, Mild Smut, Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-23
Updated: 2016-03-24
Packaged: 2018-02-05 21:39:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1833187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fuquspace/pseuds/Fuquspace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Working at a doctor's office was stressful, being bled on, peed on, screamed at or even blamed for people's illnesses. But none of that even compared to the half hour I spent carpooling to work everyday with the young Medical Intern named Leonard McCoy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Late

I sat in my car, anxiously tapping my foot. I was parked in the gravel driveway of a beautiful, two story home with natural wood finish. The dark house clashed against the bright, blue, Georgia sky, and surrounding green pine. The sights, unfortunately, did little to calm my nerves. I could already hear her muffled screams inside of the house. I groaned and reached over to the radio, attempting to find something to drown out the noise. But the sound of a plate shattering from inside the house still reached my ears.

"Shit" I sighed and put my head down on the steering wheel. "We're going to be  _so_ _late_."

As a nurse at a local doctor's office; I was frequently barfed, bled and peed on. I was yelled at, screamed at, and often blamed for people's deaths and/or illnesses. But the most stressful part of my days, by far, was carpooling to work with a young medical intern named Leonard McCoy.

The front door swung open and Leonard stepped out, looking  _pissed_. He was pulling on his jacket as he stomped down the porch steps. His wife, still in her long pink bathrobe stood behind him in the doorway, her cheeks tear stained and her eyes puffy.

"You're just going to leave me?" She shouted at him.

McCoy didn't even turn around "I'm not leaving Joyce, I'm just going to work." His tone was mocking.

"You're leaving me for her arent you?" She pointed into the car and shrunk into my seat. "She's always the one picking you up for work, you're sleeping together aren't you?!"

"No, Joyce." He was so apathetic to her accusation it wasn't even funny. He swung the passenger side door open and sat down beside me, closing the door and putting on his seat belt. I gave him a nervous glance and he just frowned, as Joce continued to cry on the porch.

"Just drive." He said.

I sighed and pulled out of the driveway and onto the road. After a moment of silence Leonard sighed and rubbed his forehead.

I let out a nervous laugh "Did she really just accuse you of sleeping with me?"

"She's fucking insane." He spat.

I let out a chuckle. "I mean, I know I'm a hot piece, but really?" I took my eyes off the road for a moment to wiggle an eyebrow at my friend.

The smallest of smirks grazed his face. "You could do better than me. Besides, Doctor Peterson's had his eyes on you." He joked.

"Oh really now?" I gasped sarcasticly. "He's just my type too, I like my men over 60. Give me a nose full of grey hair and some Woody Allen shades and I am good. To. Go!"

McCoy rubbed his eyes and I couldn't tell if it was annoyance from my weird humor or if he still had his mind on his argument. He looked out the window, a strange expression on his face, and he sighed again. "I just want it to be over." He said. Crap, he was thinking about the argument.

I frowned at him "I'm sorry." I said with a sigh. "What even happened this time? I thought you guys were getting better."

"I don't even know. There's no excuse for this shit." He said. "When we were newlyweds I thought it was just her pregnancy hormones, now I realize, she's just like this all the damn time!" he was getting worked up. "She's constantly picking fights with me- little stuff, like the dishes, it doesn't even matter, but  _somehow_  I'm an uncaring, piece-of-shit-husband if I let one  _damn_  dish soak in the sink for a few hours." He was using his hands to reiterate his point, pointing and flailing and throwing them in the air. "Next thing I know, she's telling me we don't have enough money and I'm a failure as a man."

"What the fuck?" I glared over at him "You're a friggin' intern! You're 27! You  _just_ left Med School!" Now I was the one lifting a hand off the steering wheel and waving it around. "What does she think: because you have the word 'doctor' in your job description you're instantly going to make several million credits all at once? Why doesn't  _she_ have a job?"

Leonard just shook his head and rested his elbow on the car door, looking out the windshield angrily. After a few moments of silence I took it as a sign that he didn't want to talk about it anymore. I frowned and turned the music up on the radio as we continued our journey.

~o0o~

When we pulled into the parking lot we were already late. I rushed to turn off the hover car and it dipped down onto the earth. We scrambled out of the car and made our way up to the office putting on our ID badges as we opened the glass door.

"You're late." Mia, the nurse behind the desk scolded and threw a PADD on the ledge for me to sign.

"I know, I know." I rolled my eyes. "Blame the kid." I tossed a thumb behind me to Leonard, who was rushing passed us and into Dr. Peterson's office.

"You can't blame it on the intern." Mia said "Poor boy doesn't even have a car. You're the one who's  _supposed_  to be responsible."

I tapped open the files on the screen, pulling out the stylus from my pocket and signing off on a few prescriptions. "I sat in his driveway for almost a half hour this morning." I handed the PADD back to Mia, who raised her eyebrows and pulled an interested face.

I looked over my shoulder to see Leonard walking out of Dr. Peterson's office and back into exam room 3. "Don't tell anyone." I whispered once he was securely in the room. "But I'm pretty sure he and The Mrs'll be gettin' a divorce soon."

"Oh really?" Mia's eyebrows crawled further up her forehead. I secretly hated myself, knowing full well I was spreading office gossip, but I couldn't help but let the words slip out of my mouth. I needed to talk to someone about what I'd been seeing everyday for the last few weeks.

"Oh, Mia, it's bad." I said shaking my head. "She was breaking shit and screaming at him, and he just looked at her like he didn't even care."

Mia let out a tisk, "It's a shame. How old's that kid of his." She asked.

"She's foouuurr? I think?" I said trying to recall the last time I'd seen little Joanna.

Mia shook her head and handed me another stack of papers, "Can you go prep Mrs. Hicks in room 4?"

"Yeah." I said picking up the stack and walking off to my first patient of the day.


	2. Dixie

I was sitting at the nurse's station when Mia walked over to me. "I have a mission for you." She said leaning against the counter.

"A mission?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

Mia puffed and gave me a sad smile. "Old Mr. Treadway fell and broke his ankle."

"Owch." I flinched empathetically. I loved Mr. Treadway, he'd been stricken with arthritis and was a frequent visitor. He always brought cookies or candies with him to share with the staff. "What room's he in?" I asked.

Mia shook her head. "No honey, he ain't here. He can't walk. He's still at the house."

"Shit, did he call the hospital?" I asked.

"He's in the countryside, you know it'll take the ambulance a good hour or two just to  _find_  the place."

I let out a frustrated grumble. Living in Georgia can be damn inconvenient sometimes. "Is Doctor Peterson going to get him?"

"Doctor Peterson has patients lined up all day today, we're  _over_  booked."

I let out a shaky sigh, poor Mr. Treadway. "What do we do?" I asked.

"I was thinking  _you_ could go- and take the kid with you." Mia explained.

I gave her a worried look. "Does he know how to set an anchel?"

"No, but you do." She smiled and walked away.

"Yea, but, I'm not a Doc- argg." I called after her. Sighing, I grabbed my jacket from the back of my chair and set off to find Leonard.

I found him in the hall, staring at a whiteboard, his eyes glazed over and the back of his thumb was pressed against his bottom lip.

"Hey." I said walking up to him breaking his train of thought. He turned to me looking a bit surprised, and very tired.

"It's not closing time yet, is it?" He asked turning back to the board: it was our work schedules. Why was he looking at it like he was trying to figure out some grand answer to life?

"Nah." I answered him. "I need your help."

He turned back to me and raised an eyebrow, implying that he was listening. "You know Mr. Treadway?" Leonard's face darkened slightly at the name, his eyebrows arched down as he nodded. "Well, apparently he fell pretty bad, and he can't get himself here."

He looked at me like I was stupid. "So call an ambulance." He said with a shrug, his fingers lifting from the side of his crossed arms.

"Leo, he lives out by the river." I sad. "He's got that big farm."

Leonard grumbled now realized what I was asking of him. "You're not suggesting we make a house call are you?

"Ya' gotta go with me." I said shaking my head.

"And Mr. Peterson is-?"

"Booked solid all day." I finished his question.

He sighed loudly "Alright." He grumbled uncrossing his arms. "You got the med-pack?" He asked.

"I've got one in the car." I told him as we walked down the hall side by side. We stopped by Mr. Peterson's office who thanked us for going and urged us to come back as soon as possible.

~o0o~

The longer we were in the car the angrier McCoy seemed to get. As was drove on the buildings became farther and farther apart. Leaving downtown Marietta, for the green countryside. Leonard's sighs and grumbles were coming like contractions, the closer we got to the house, the louder they were and closer together they got. This had to stop, it was making my stomach hurt.

"Okay. I'm sorry." I said after a grumbled 'damnit' "I know you're anti-social. But what's really going on? Mr. Treadway's  _really_ nice."

"No." McCoy stopped me. "It's not him."

"Then what is it? Do you just not want to go on a house call?"

"No." McCoy sighed. "It's his son." Leonard rubbed his forehead. How did this man have such good skin? He was always touching his damn face!

"Who?" I asked.

"His son, Clay Treadway." He explained with grunt. "He's an asshole." he scoffed.

I let out a snort. "Why? What happened?"

"I punched him in the face." He said, not looking at me.

"Uhum." I laughed, "Do I really need to point out that  _you're_ the asshole in this scenario?"

"It was high school! He was dancing with Joyce. They were betrothed as kids or something, so he thought that meant he  _owned_ her. She went to talk to me and next thing I know he's trying to fight me!"

"Betrothed?" My eyebrows shot up. "People still do that?"

"Apparently." He shrugged.

"Well it was high school, and Clay's clearly not at the house, or else he would have driven his dad to the hospital." This seemed to clear Leonard's conscious a little.

"We're here." I said pulling into a dirt road surrounded by trees. A small yellow house sat in the distance of the road off to the left. To the right was an open field full of cattle, horses and goats. A red barn stood in the center. I parked the car and grabbed the pack, we hurriedly made our way up to the house, only to see Mr. Treadway walking down his front porch, his leg perfectly fine. McCoy and I both shared a confused look.

"Oh thank heavens you're here!" He said.

"Mr. Treadway? Are you alright?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, yes I'm fine." He waved me off. "It's Dixie who needs help."

"Dixie?" Leonard asked.

Treadway pointed out to the field where a brown and white spotted house was laying on it's side, breathing heavily, clearly injured.

A Horse.

We got called down here.

Because of a fucking horse.

I pursed my lips trying to figure out if I was angry or amused.

"Ya didn't call the vet?" Leonard asked crossing his arms.

"I did but they said they were too busy, so I thought maybe the folks down at Doctor Peterson's could help if I told ya it was me that was hurt instead." His eyes looked to me pleadingly and slightly embarrassed. It made my heart melt a little. "The vet said they wouldn't be out here till Tuesday. I couldn't wait, she could be dead by then."

I looked to McCoy who looked frustrated, but wasn't walking away, I gave him a timid shrug. "I mean we've got the stuff." I lifted the med pack slightly.

McCoy rolled his eyes and uncrossed his arms with a sigh. Mr. Treadway smiled as he read Leonard's body language knowing he had won.


	3. Sweet Tea

"Alright, now lift up her leg, yeah, like that." I told Leonard while running a hand across the horse's face and neck as she lay on the ground. "Careful, not so fast!" The horse let out a whiny, but didn't move. She knew we were here to help. I put a comforting hand on her snout.

"I know what I'm doing." Leo finished wrapping the gauze around her ankle and pulled out the tricorder from the med-pack. "The bone's healed, and the swelling should go down in less than a week." McCoy turned to Mr. Treadway who was standing beside us in the field, making sure the other horses and cattle left us alone to work.

"Oh thank you so much, this horse is my livelihood." Mr. Treadway let out a relieved sigh.

"It's not a problem." McCoy and I stood back as Dixie attempted to stand up on her shaky leg, testing out her new cast before she trotted off. The sun was beating down on us and I could see the sweat on Leo's brow and neck. It's hard to remember it's December when the sun's this hot. Only in Georgia can you get sunburn and frostbite in the same week.

"Come inside for a cup of tea?" Mr. Treadway ordered more than asked. "It's the least I can do."

"No, really, it's okay." I said waving my hands to decline his offer.

"Yeah, we gotta head back." Leonard added pointing a thumb back to town.

"No, no, I insist. Please. Just one glass!" He begged.

McCoy and I sighed. "Sure." I nodded. "But one glass and that's it, Old Man." I smiled .

"I promise." He said raising a hand to his heart.

"You said the same thing about those cookies. Now I'm 5 pounds heavier ever since you started bringing them in." I bantered as he led us back to the house.

The inside of his house looked old and rustic. An antique deer's head hung on the wall under a large leather couch, facing a large entertainment hallo screen.

"Make yourselves at home." Treadway said ushering us to the couch before he left and made his way down the hall and to the kitchen. We sank down into it uncomfortably, looking around at the random treasures he had scattered throughout his living room.

Treadway returned shortly with two very full glasses of Sweet Tea, and I tried to hide my disappointment. After two years in the south, you'd think I'd learn that "Tea" meant "Cold Water that Tastes like Diabetes."

"Thanks." I smiled and lifted the cup of sugar water to my mouth.

Leonard gulped his down rather quickly, but obviously, not quickly enough.

"Leonard!" A scared voice called from the hall and we turned to see a man somewhat close to Leo's age with blond hair hair and green eyes. He was tall, but scrawny, his eyes were shifty as he looked to McCoy and me, he looked around the room, like he was trying to find a place to hide, or something to defend himself with. Leo just nodded at him curtly. "Clay." He said.

"W-What are doing here?" Clay asked walking nervously up to us.

I gave McCoy a confused look and he responded with arched eyebrows. "Your Dad called. We fixed Dixie's leg." He explained, his eyes narrowing as he watched Clay.

"Uh-hu. Okay. That's it?" Clay was almost panting. What the hell was going on?

McCoy's narrowed eyes turned to a scowl and he drawled out a "Yeah. That's about it."

"Oh." Clay smiled. "Okay good. Well it was nice seeing you, I'll be home later Pap." He said rushing out the door.

I looked to Mr. Treadway, he looked just about as confused as us. "You boys didn't have another spat, did ya?"

"Not to my knowledge." McCoy answered his eyes still a bit narrowed and his jaw clenched as he threw back his head and finished the last of his drink.

I followed his lead and got up from the couch. "Thanks for the tea!" I said to Mr. Treadway.

"Any time!" He said as we left.

"That was… interesting?" I said to McCoy as we walked down the porch. We could see Clay's car speeding off down the dirt road in the distance. McCoy didn't respond. We got in the car and he was silent the entire way back to work.

I'd take his sighs and curses over his silence any day.

* * *

The next day was strange.

Leonard got out of his house on time. There was no screaming. No fighting. No tears. But when he got into the car, he didn't say a word to me. I tried to make small talk; I commented on the weather, asked him about his plans for the holidays, nothing. He just looked out his window broodingly.

"Are you mad at me?" I finally asked.

"No." he mumbled out of the corner of his mouth, the sound muffled by the hand he was leaning against.

My logical mind told me it wasn't me, it was probably just the continuing problems with Joyce, but my emotional and paranoid mind told me I'd done something wrong and that he hated me, and I started to feel slightly panicked.

I hadn't realized it till just that moment. But this stupid intern was probably my best friend.


End file.
